


The Monkey's Star | Doctor Who Series 1, Episode 4

by ReganInglis



Series: Doctor Who | Series 1 [4]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), The Monkey's Paw - W. W. Jacobs
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Doctor Who References, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23875117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReganInglis/pseuds/ReganInglis
Summary: For nearly 300 years, the small town of Gransea has been blessed with luck and promising wishes. But is there a price to pay for wishing for your deepest desires?
Series: Doctor Who | Series 1 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624294





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

**_Gransea, England - 1734 AD_ **

Cassandra’s cries of pain could be heard across the entire village at this point. There wasn’t a single person who could sleep knowing she would eventually erupt in screams and shrieks.

All of the physicians to be found were circling her bed, using every form of relief they could muster.

Caroline, Cassandra’s young daughter, stood in the edge of the doorway. Despite her Mother’s protests and the suggestions by the doctors, she wanted to see what was going on. Whatever terrible infliction her Mother possessed, it was baffling anyone near her. What could save her? A miracle perhaps?

One of the doctors spotted Caroline in the doorway, and quickly walked over to her.

“You can’t be here, get back downstairs at once!” he protested, before slamming the door shut. Caroline had moved her hands away from the door before they were jammed in-between the door and the frame. Unable to see what was going on, Caroline ran down the stairs and into the garden behind the house.

Despite the horrific event transpiring around them, Caroline’s family were still able to keep some semblance of normality when it came to the gardens. The flowers were routinely watered and the vegetables they grew were big and rewarding.

As she walked through the garden, Caroline saw a well at the end of it. The well was very old, much older than the house.

She reached the well and peered over its edge into the darkness below. Even with a bright Sun shining in the sky, one wouldn’t be able to see very much at the bottom. The well wasn’t even used for anything anymore. Nothing more than a relic from a time long ago.

As Caroline peered down, she saw something glinting in the little light there was. She paid little attention to it, her mind instead still focusing on her Mother.

She had been ill for nearly a month now, and didn’t appear to be getting any better.

Caroline closed her eyes, her hands resting over the edge of the well.

“I wish my Mother would be happy and healthy again,” she whispered to herself.

Below her, the glinting at the bottom of the well had since stopped, as if nothing was ever there.

Caroline hadn’t noticed the lack of glinting, and instead left the side of the well to return to the house.

As she neared the house, the crying had since stopped. _She must have fallen asleep finally,_ Caroline wondered to herself.

The young girl was too tired to go back up the stairs, so instead decided to sleep on the chair by the roaring fire. The warmth radiating from the flames would surely help her in getting to sleep. As Caroline slumped down on the chair, she fell asleep rather quickly, as the fire continued to crackle.

* * *

The morning Sun shone through the windows of the living room, illuminating everything it it’s path.

Caroline’s eyes scrunched up as she tried to avoid the glare of the Sun, but to no avail. She reluctantly pulled her eyes open, and saw the living room was still devoid of people. There was also silence throughout the whole house, so maybe her Mother was still asleep?

She pulled herself off the chair to look out of the window. The rest of the village was beginning to wake up as well, various people leaving to go to work, while others were gathering food from their gardens.

Footsteps rang down the stairs, but Caroline paid no attention to them. _Probably one of the village doctors still attending to--_

“Good morning sweetheart!” Cassandra’s voice suddenly shouted out.

Caroline almost jumped out of her skin at the sight of her Mother in the living room, walking around and appearing perfectly healthy.

“Mother? How--?” Caroline failed to find a response that one could understand. Cassandra laughed it off, not seeming to be interested.

“I have no idea. I just woke up and I felt great. Amazing even!” she replied, her smile beaming across her face.

As Cassandra went into the kitchen, Caroline continued to stand by the window, utter shock across her entire body.

“But _how_? How are you suddenly healed?” Caroline continued to question her Mother.

“Who knows my dear? Some sort of miracle I say,” she replied, continuing to potter around in the kitchen.

Caroline pondered for a few moments. _Was it possible?_

Looking out of the window, she could see the well at the end of the garden, looking ordinary as ever.

Could it be that, somehow, the well had heard Caroline’s pleas for her Mother to be rid of her illness?

Could that really happen?

For now, Caroline put those thoughts to one side and instead focused on the primary thing - that being her Mother was healthy, and that’s all that mattered to her.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMING UP:  
> In 2020, Emelie and the Doctor learn of the strange miracles befalling Gransea, and go in to investigate...


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

**_Hexham, England - Present Day_ **

_ The Knight may have lost his old life, but he vowed to make it right by starting a new one here, in the present day. _

Emelie finished typing up her findings online concerning Sir Richard and the Dragon from a week ago.

The Doctor had suggested she type up her experiences with him in the form of short stories, but ensuring much of the context was removed for fear of someone trying to seek her and the Doctor out.

Though given the way the Doctor spoke about Humanity, she felt that they probably wouldn’t take it very seriously anyway, but just in case.

In the sitting room at her family's home, Emelie finished her work on the laptop, sitting on one of the sofas in front of the TV. On the screen, a news report was playing. The reporter was talking about Sir Richard and the work he was doing at St. Robert’s Abbey, though he had since changed his name to distance himself from his previous life.

“I’m speaking to Mr. Sydney Parker, who has begun working as a guide for St’ Robert’s Abbey. Mr. Lambert, what drove you to work here at this beautiful building?” the reporter said.

Emelie couldn’t help but chuckle at Richard’s name change, “Sydney? Really subtle.”

“Well I’ve always been interested in the preservation of our history, and I feel like I can make a great difference here, teaching young children - as well as adults - about the history surrounding St. Robert’s,” Richard explained.

“So was he running around dressed as a knight to drum up publicity for the Abbey or something?” asked Emelie’s Father, Mark. He wasn’t paying too much attention to the TV, instead still continuing to glance through the newspaper for any form of job advertisements.

“Should’ve done that, Dad. Maybe you could’ve gotten in better than the luck you’re having,” Emelie suggested.

“Oh I don’t know, something will turn up,” Mark replied.

Jake was lying on the floor, playing on his Nintendo Switch, but it was keeping him occupied.

“You need to leave the house first, Dad,” Jake chimed in.

Mark dropped his newspaper and looked at his children with mild annoyance.

“Is this all I’m gonna get from you? Daily abuse or something constructive?”

“Hey, I’m totally being constructive!” Emelie exclaimed. “He’s the one who’s being blunt about it all,” she said, pointing to Jake on the floor.

The young boy continued to ignore the others as he played his game.

“And what about you? Did you actually open the letter from The Breaking Feed?”

“Well, no. I don’t need to open it, I know what it says,” Emelie responded.

“Do you though? I just wish you’d get it over with and move on to something else,” Mark admitted.

“Uh-huh,” Emelie muttered before getting up and leaving the sitting room.

Mark glanced at her as she left, but didn’t try to stop her leaving.

Emelie instead stood just outside, leaning against the wall. Her face was in her hand, rubbing it over and over again in frustration.

Emma’s footsteps were silent as Emelie continued rubbing her face.

“He doesn’t mean to talk like that,” her Mother said.

Emelie looked up at her, the frustration on her face very apparent.

“Then why does he?” she asked.

“Because he’s struggling. We all are. It’s just a difficult time right now, and we’re all trying to figure out where we stand in all this,” Emma explained.

Emelie understood where she was coming from, even if she didn’t wholeheartedly agree with her. But she was right: both her and her Dad were out of a job, Jake’s test results at school weren’t coming back particularly positive, and Emma was the only person bringing money into the house every month, so trying to feed a family of four was becoming a rather difficult endeavour.

“Don’t let him get to you. I’m sure you know he doesn’t mean to be like that. We all just want to move on and try and get ourselves sorted,” Emma continued.

Emelie nodded in agreement, finally starting to warm to her Mother’s words.

“I know, Mum. I just--” she began, but couldn’t find the words to finish.

Emma didn’t need to hear the rest, and instead embraced her daughter in a tight hug. Emelie happily took the hug, and for the first time in a while, felt very content with being at home.

Eventually, the hugging stopped and Emelie smiled up at her Mother.

“I’m gonna go and get some air, I won’t be long,” she announced, walking over to the under-stairs cupboard and grabbing her denim jacket and boots.

“Take all the time you need, we’ll still be here when you get back,” Emma replied.

“Aye, you better be!” Emelie shouted after her as she opened the front door and ventured into the outside world.

* * *

It had been several weeks since the first incident at Will’s Junkyard, so at this point the police weren’t particularly bothered about keeping patrols there. This meant that Emelie had no problems with getting inside, though she still used her usual route of climbing over the bins next to a wall and climbing over to get inside.

Much of the junk in the yard remained the same, Emelie assumed that the Doctor didn’t like to move things around too often.

She reached the tiny office building, and saw the Doctor sat outside on an old-looking deck chair. He wasn’t wearing his usual black jacket, but continued the trend of a coloured flannel shirt and top underneath. It was a simple black-and-white colour scheme this time, nothing too outlandish. Emelie saw a pair of circular goggles he was wearing to protect his eyes from whatever he was doing with a bit of scrap metal, though the strange markings on the side - coupled with the fact it was humming - suggested it must be alien. The shape was long and thin, but Emelie couldn’t even begin to contemplate what it truly was.

“Do you ever take a break?” Emelie asked, announcing her presence to him.

The Doctor stopped using his drill and pulled the goggles from his eyes. He saw the human girl he’d befriended several weeks ago, and smiled.

“I don’t think I’m physically capable of doing such a thing,” he replied, pulling a pair of work gloves off his hands and placing them on the ground next to him.

“There was me thinking this old thing was a weapon of some kind,” he said, gesturing to the device he’d been working on. “Turns out it’s just a flute.”

Emelie craned her eyebrows, not believing him.

“A flute?” she asked him. “But it’s humming, I can hear it.”

“Maybe it likes to hum, I don’t know. Came down years ago, maybe a travelling alien musician dropped it,” the Doctor wondered.

He gave up with that train of thought rather quickly, really drumming home the notion that he doesn’t take breaks between working.

Instead, he got up and grabbed his phone and gave it to Emelie.

“Check this out,” he said, presenting the screen to her.

A news story was being displayed about the town of Gransea, not too far from where they were standing. In the story, it told of a man who won the lottery on his first try, winning a total of £8.6m.

“Okay, someone won the lottery, so what?” Emelie questioned.

“Keep reading,” the Doctor replied.

Emelie continued down the page. As she read further into the story, it revealed that this man was one of eleven lottery winners -  _ in the same town. _

“Now that’s a tad suspicious,” she admitted, not expecting to read something like that.

“Weird, isn’t it? I’m heading out to Gransea later on, come along if you want?”

Emelie was certainly intrigued by the story, but was starting to question whether it was their usual thing.

“I doubt it’s aliens this time, right?” she wondered.

“True, but like I say, I don’t take breaks. I need to be doing stuff and getting myself out of this junk yard probably does me some good.”

“Coming from the man who preferred to stay away from people as much as he could,” Emelie remarked.

Even the Doctor smirked, seemingly agreeing with what she was saying.

“What can I say? Maybe I’ve changed,” he suggested.

He walked past her to grab his jacket from a nearby tyre, before pulling it over him.

“So then, you coming?” the Doctor asked her.

Emelie thought for a moment. It might have been nothing at the end of it, but the way the Doctor was almost desperate to get out into the open world was strange to her. What was making him want to venture outside all of a sudden? Was it her? Was she having an effect on him?

“Yeah, why not?” she finally replied, much to the Doctor’s delight.

He gestured to the teleportation pod he’d used to send Rukkali to the Andes when he and Emelie first met, but now it was calibrated to take them to Gransea.

He stood on the pod, extending his hand to Emelie, which she received. She joined him on the floor of the pod, their hands held tightly.

The Doctor looked down at her. “Ready?” he asked her.

She nodded, before he pressed a button in his other hand and they both vanished from the junkyard, leaving only a faint blue wisp from the pod.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMING UP:  
> A family's legacy lives on as the Doctor and Emelie travel to Gransea...


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Nearly 300 years on from when Caroline first made the wish in the well, her family continued to live in the town of Gransea. Her descendant Ruth lived alone in the area where Caroline’s cottage was first placed.What was once a simple house was now replaced by a typical family home of the 21st Century.

As Ruth prepared her dinner for the evening, she spotted a small boy running past the garden. Shortly behind him was a group of older boys, clearly bullies. She believed the boy to be around eleven, with cuts and bruises across his face. His school uniform was battered and torn.

Ruth remarked on the increase in bullying going on in the town as of late. Every other day she saw someone being chased or getting hurt past her window. It wasn’t like she could go out and stop it, surely it would just make things worse?

She saw the well at the end of her garden, the same well that Caroline once used three centuries ago. Ruth was well aware of the rumours surrounding the contents of the well: how it had never been used for its actual purpose, and instead was defiled with dark magic to grant wishes to those passing by.

Or maybe it was rubbish. Most likely rubbish.

Ruth finished preparing her food, and went into the sitting room, failing to spot two people suddenly appearing out of thin air in the street opposite her.

* * *

For the Doctor and Emelie, they certainly didn’t expect to teleport onto a relatively busy street, complete with pedestrians walking by and cars passing. 

“Perception Filter,” the Doctor announced, spotting Emelie looking around and people paying little attention to them.

“Huh?” she replied, confused as to what he said.

“The tech in the teleport. Means people don’t notice when we teleport somewhere,” he explained.

Emelie was quick to dispute this, however. “Hang on, you used this to get to Baker Falls, didn’t you? I totally saw you appear!”

“Because you wanted to. Had I not told you, you probably wouldn’t have noticed me arrive.”

Emelie silently nodded, seemingly accepting of his explanation, despite it’s ridiculousness.

The Doctor clapped his hands together. “Right, small town with eleven lottery winners. Where should we look first?”

Looking around the area, Emelie saw the local bank, which also had a number of police cars parked outside.

“Might go check that out,” she said, pointing towards the bank.

He seemed to like her idea. “Cracking, I’ll check the pub. Probably get tons of people going through every day,” the Doctor decided.

The two friends split up to do their own investigations.

* * *

Emelie was careful to avoid eye contact with the police officers leaving the bank. While she didn’t recognise any of them, she was still somewhat fearful after what happened with being found trespassing in Will’s Junkyard.

The space in the bank was massive, mostly due to the fact that there were no customers to be found anywhere. Emelie began to wonder why there was no-one here, but her suspicions were soon confirmed when the manager of the bank came up to her.

“I’m terribly sorry, but we aren’t taking customers right now, as you can probably tell,” she began, gesturing to the police outside.

Emelie presented her ID Card for The Breaking Feed, which the manager seemed somewhat irritated by.

“Really? More journalists?”

“What can I say? There’s a good story here,” Emelie replied. “But just to start from the beginning, what’s going on?”

The manager began walking towards one of the consulting tables, and Emelie followed her over. She offered Emelie one of the chairs, which she took and sat down to learn more.

“I’m assuming you’ve heard of the lottery winners in Gransea?” the manager asked.

“Yeah, eleven of them I believe?”

“Right. Well so far the first six of them have been proven to be false, and were in fact in possession of money that was stolen from this very bank,” she revealed.

“Wow, really?” Emelie replied, in shock at this revelation.

“Yeah. That being said, we’ve had no record of  _ anyone  _ breaking in here and stealing from us. We keep tabs on all the bills that come through this bank, and yet somehow they had access to them.”

“Surely the money would’ve just gone straight into their bank accounts? Unless I’m missing something,” Emelie wondered.

Even the manager appeared to agree with her.

“Exactly! But these people had actual bank notes in their hands, from this bank! It’s just impossible!” she cried. “It’s one thing for us to be robbed, but to be robbed five times? It doesn’t look very good security-wise does it?”

“So that’s why the police are here?”

“Checking the building for signs of a break-in, as well as reviewing our security premises. They’re just as stumped as we are.”

Emelie continued to write down her findings in her little notepad.

“What about the other five winners?”

“They haven’t received their prizes yet, just as a precaution. The lottery board is going to review their data to make sure there’s nothing fraudulent about them.”

Emelie seemed satisfied with what she had learned.

“Well thanks for that, that’ll definitely be put to good use.”

* * *

“Really? Six of them?”

“Aye, all frauds I tell you.”

The Doctor sat at the front bench in the pub, chatting to the locals who frequented the facilities. Not all the stories they were telling turned out to be genuine, but he did believe what the barman was saying. He certainly appeared more truthful than the others in the room.

“Anything else strange going on?”

“Well, we now have the oldest population in the region,” the barman explained. “Used to be far lower on the spectrum.”

The Doctor didn’t seem to understand the point of this story.

“What’s the similarities between this and the lottery frauds? I know I said strange but--”

“You asked for something strange, my friend. And that’s pretty strange to me!” the barman exclaimed.

“Right…,” the Doctor muttered.

“Pint?” the barman asked, gesturing to the various drinks he had on tap.

“God, no. We’d be here all day before I choose something relatively normal.”

The barman put away the pint glass, slightly disappointed he wouldn’t be getting any sort of payment from this peculiar man.

“Why are you so interested, then? You’re not local,” he asked.

“Who says I’m not?”

“I see everyone in here, and your face is the first I’ve seen.”

“I’m just curious. I like to use the internet a lot. Mostly for internetting,” the Doctor tried to explain, though he was rather unsure as to whether or not he was making any sort of sense.

The expression on the barman’s face seconded that theory.

“ _ Internetting _ ? Don’t think you need that pint, mate.”

Before he could embarrass himself any further, the Doctor left the pub with great haste, not wishing to have another episode like in the coffee shop.

* * *

Emelie was waiting for the Doctor on a park bench, in the centre of Gransea. She had found a newspaper lying on the side of the bench, and thought it would be a useful tool for learning more about the town. Although the paper was actually from the week previously, it lined up with what she had learned in the bank.

The Doctor caught up with her as he left the pub to join her on the bench.

“Hit me,” he announced, although flinched at his choice of words, “Not literally.”

Emelie chuckled. “Shame. Erm, six of those lottery winners had nicked the winnings from the bank.”

“Yeah, heard about that one.”

“But the money was never recorded missing, and the winners are adamant that they didn’t do it.”

“Well of course they are, covering their own tracks.”

“What’d you find?”

“People around here are living a lot older than usual, highest rate in the region apparently,” the Doctor divulged.

“So we’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that nothing strange is happening and this was a waste of a trip?” suggested Emelie.

The Doctor was quite taken aback at her conclusion.

“What, you don’t think this is all a bit strange?” he questioned her.

“Well yeah, but not  _ our strange _ . Just sounds like a bunch of criminals and some old people who skipped their expiration date.”

Standing up, the Doctor paced back and forth in front of the bench. While he could understand Emelie’s viewpoint - this could all really just be nothing more than some criminals and luck - he felt something at the back of his mind that didn’t feel quite right. Like there was something else going on.

“I’m gonna take another look around,” he said, walking down the road to enter a newsagent’s.

Emelie stayed put on the bench, contemplating whether she should join him.

_ It’s not like I want it to be alien _ , she thought to herself.

Noticing something out of the corner of her eye, she saw a young boy, no older than eleven, standing by one of the many terraced homes in the area. Usually Emelie wouldn’t bat another eye at the boy, but she could tell that something was up.

The boy was standing against the corner of the house, peering down the alleyway towards the back of the house directly alongside - Ruth’s house.

As Emelie went to stand up, the boy gave up hiding and walked down into the alley. Curious as to what he was doing, Emelie soon followed him down.

* * *

Ruth had since finished her food when she saw the bullied boy from earlier come up to behind her garden. The other boys were long gone, he was alone.

She watched him as he bypassed the garden, and instead headed for the well, peering over the edge of it, looking down towards the bottom.

Emelie had caught up with him, and watched him from behind Ruth’s fence as the boy began whispering. She couldn’t hear a word of what he was saying, so she tried to inch closer. As she moved closer, her foot accidentally stood on a fallen branch, snapping it and causing the boy to quickly turn round to where the sound came from.

Emelie dodged his gaze and hid behind the fence, not making any sound.

Looking through the gaps in the fence, Emelie saw the boy’s face, and was startled:  _ there were no cuts or bruises on his face anymore _

Seemingly assuming there was no-one there, the boy ran off down the alley, away from the well.

Emelie stood up, a look of confusion spread across her face. As she looked around, she glanced through the house’s window and saw she was being stared at - by Ruth.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMING UP:  
> As the Doctor and Emelie learn the truth of the well, it puts all of them in terrible danger...


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

“It used to be in the garden, before I shortened it,” Ruth explained to Emelie, who had since come into the house to learn more.

“Uh-huh. And does it do what I think it does?” she asked her, not sure whether she believed her own thoughts.

Suddenly, a knock came from the front door.

“That’ll be him, I reckon,” Emelie said.

Ruth walked to the front door and opened it, revealing the Doctor standing there.

“Ruth Horton, I presume? I’m the Doctor,” he announced, extending his hand to her.

She accepted his hand, though not without some trepidation.

“You’re Emelie’s friend?”

“So I’ve heard,” he replied.

Ruth moved to the side to let him in.

The Doctor entered the kitchen and found Emelie staring through the window. He followed her gaze and spotted the well nearby.

“That’s our culprit, then?” he asked. Emelie silently nodded in response.

He turned to see Ruth come into the kitchen to join them.

“Can I have a look?”

* * *

The Doctor peered down towards the depths of the well, unable to see anything unusual. Eventually, he shifted focus to the materials that encompassed the well: stone and wood. All relatively normal by the standards.

“I’d say early 18th century, going off the bodywork,” he deduced.

Ruth and Emelie stood nearby, watching him as he inspected the object.

“It used to belong to my family. Did for generations,” Ruth explained.

“So why did you move it?” wondered Emelie.

“Doesn’t work. As far as I’m aware, it’s just an ornament.”

“Looks like a well, but isn’t actually a well. And yet you’ve got people walking up to it and wishing for things,” the Doctor said. “Bit of a stereotype, isn’t it?”

Looking down the well, the Doctor saw something glinting at him, like a piece of gold shining in the sunlight.

“Where’s a selfie stick when you need one?” the Doctor asked jokingly. Suddenly, he clicked his fingers and turned to Emelie.

“You’ve got a telephoto lens on your phone haven’t you?”

“Erm, yeah. Why?”

“Give it here. I need to see something.”

Passing him the phone, the Doctor opened up the camera and switched to the telephoto lens. Angling it over the well, he zoomed in until it reached its full length. He also switched the flash on so he could see towards the bottom.

“Hello, you little beauty,” he exclaimed.

Ruth and Emelie came over to look down the well too.

At the very bottom was what appeared to be a rock. But this was unlike any rock Emelie had seen before. It was about the same size as a watch box but, between the minerals, there was a faint yellow glow emanating from within.

“Doctor? What is that?” Emelie asked him.

“I dunno. A meteorite, perhaps? Whatever it is, it doesn’t belong on this planet,” he posited, “And it’s granting wishes to people, obviously.”

“But how can a silly old rock do that?” Ruth questioned.

The Doctor studied the rock closer, and was beginning to get a strange feeling from it.

“God knows. Ever hear the tale of the Monkey’s Paw?”

“The one where someone wishes for something, and then it turns sour and a terrible result happens,” Emelie explained.

“Exactly!” the Doctor replied, snapping his fingers. “People wish to win the lottery, they get arrested for stealing money.”

“The boy,” Ruth began.

“The boy?”

“He used to have bruises and stuff on his face, but then he came to the well and they were gone.”

Emelie suddenly got up and started running towards the gate leading into the alley.

“Emelie?! What are you doing?” the Doctor shouted after her.

“That boy wished to be stronger than the bullies, I’m sure of it! I know what he’s gonna do!” she shouted back, heading out of the gate.

“Emelie, get back here!”

* * *

As Emelie emerged from the alley, she came across a sight one would expect out of a superhero movie: multiple cars were piled up in various degrees of damage. Fires had erupted in some of the buildings and in the park, the young boy was cornering the group that once bullied him relentlessly.

“Please Tim, we were just goofing around!” one of the boys begged. But Tim wasn’t having any of it.

“You tortured me! You hurt me! Never again!” he replied, his voice growing louder every second.

Suddenly, his body began to levitate in the air, towering over the bullies who were starting to become extremely scared of him.

As Tim’s eyes began to glow a vibrant red, Emelie came up to the group.

“Tim! Stop this, now!” she demanded.

The boy turned to face her, his body still floating in the air.

“You can’t stop me! No-one can!”

Emelie stepped up gingerly, her hands raised slightly like in protest.

“Listen to me. You don’t have to do this. They’re just kids--”

“They hurt me! So many times. Now they get what they deserve.”

“That’s not what they deserve. Yes they were mean to you but that doesn’t mean they have to die for it.”

“Every day! You have no idea what that’s like!” Tim bellowed, his eyes glowing brighter.

“No. No I don’t, but I know what it’s like to feel helpless. I can assure you that threatening them like this is more than enough, you don’t need to hurt them.”

Tim began to fall to the ground slowly, his eyes glowing less and less as he descended. Emelie’s words were starting to get through to him.

He looked down at the bullies who remained on the ground.

“You’re right. I don’t have to hurt them.”

Emelie breathed a sigh of relief, but then noticed Tim turn to face her.

“But what of you?”

Emelie had barely a chance to run as Tim swooped over at unbelievable speed and pushed her across the street, her body slamming against the walls of the bank.

The Doctor had only just caught up when he saw Emelie fly across the street. Seeing Tim vanish, the bullies got up and ran away.

“EMELIE!” the Doctor cried out, rushing over to her.

Tim took the chance to ascend and fly across the sky, his destination unknown.

The Doctor picked Emelie’s body up in his arms and cradled her. He felt for a pulse in her neck, but couldn’t find one.

“No, no, no. Come on!” he shouted, placing his hand on her wrist. Eventually, he found a pulse.

“Oh thank God! Emelie!”

Slowly, Emelie began to open her eyes. As she looked up to the Doctor, she smiled weakly.

“Ow,” she said gravely.

The Doctor began to laugh.

“You’re gonna be alright, yeah?”

Emelie tried to nod, but the pain in her neck was incredibly strong.

“Where did Tim go?”

* * *

In reality, Tim had only travelled a short distance away, returning to the well where he received his powers.

As he looked over the well, the rock at the bottom was glowing even more than usual, enough for Tim to notice it.

“I wish that girl never existed. I want to be the strongest person on the planet. In the Universe!” Tim shouted out.

The rock began to pulse at the bottom of the well, projecting a silent but strong pulse of energy out. It was even strong enough to push Tim to the ground.

* * *

Suddenly, Emelie began to feel very odd. Like she couldn’t move her limbs properly.

“Doctor? Doctor I feel--”

She was cut short as she spotted her hand beginning to crumble into dust. She couldn’t feel any pain from the experience, but it was starting to terrify her. The Doctor saw her hand disintegrate and began to panic.

“Emelie?” he said, his pace quickening.

“Doctor I--”

Emelie’s body disintegration sped up and, very soon, there was nothing left but a pile of dust on the path.

The Doctor crouched there, unable to move at the sight of his best friend vanishing before his eyes.

He wanted to cry, but nothing would happen. He couldn’t feel anything.

He knew what had just happened. He knew who was to blame. Now he felt only one emotion.

Rage.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor confronts Tim as the world begins to spin out of control...


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a bit of an absence, I'm back to finish off Episode 4. I've been working on some other stuff for the past week, but that's all done now so lets get back to it!

* * *

Tim felt Emelie’s existence vanish from the face of the Earth. Despite all of the changes he had received since venturing to the well, there was a tiny sliver of his original self that was screaming in his mind:  _ STOP THIS! CHANGE! _

But he was able to forget that part of his mind as he felt the presence of someone, somehow, more powerful than himself.

“The Doctor…”

How did he know his name? Perhaps these new powers he had obtained from the well gave him newfound knowledge of the world around him.

Without any hesitation, he bent over the wishing well once more, with just one simple wish:

“I wish the Doctor never existed.”

* * *

As he came up through the alley, the Doctor keeled over suddenly. Inside, he felt a strange feeling wash over him. The best similarity he could think of was the sensation of pins and needles, like he couldn’t feel anything.

He was unable to get back up, and instead began to see his hands turning to dust -  _ just like Emelie earlier. _

Lacking the ability to speak out, the Doctor soon vanished from the ground, leaving only the same pile of dust left behind when Emelie’s disappeared.

* * *

Ruth was the first person to notice the Doctor’s dust pile when she too came into the alleyway. Kneeling down, she pressed her hand into the dust, before bringing her hand up to study the particles.

Before she could study it further, a thunderous crack exploded from the sky. Looking up, she saw the clouds grow darker, like they were about to bring about the most powerful thunderstorm ever recorded.

Ruth somehow knew that all of this was tied to the Doctor. But why? Why would his vanishing from existence cause the clouds to grow darker?

She picked herself up and headed for the well, the cause of all of this.

* * *

Tim had noticed the clouds shifting colour as soon as the Doctor vanished. But it wasn’t just the clouds. Lightning began to flash across the sky, sharp and violent. There were also strange shapes beginning to form through the clouds.

“Stop this, Tim!” a voice rang out.

Tim turned to see Ruth stood behind him, a look of desperation on her face.

“Can’t you see this is all wrong? Look up at the sky!” she cried, her hand pointing towards the sky shifting above them.

But Tim was so much stronger than the rest of the humans around him, he felt nothing for them. Whatever he had wished for, it was altering him further.

“There’s nothing to be done,” he said.

“Of course there is. Reverse all of this. The world will be back to normal,” Ruth explained.

Tim shook his head, disagreeing with her entirely.

“The Star has shown me so much. We can become more.”

Ruth came closer and rested her hands on Tim’s shoulders.

“That thing is corrupting your mind. It’s showing you stuff that you can’t understand. Trust me, give it up.”

Tim looked up into Ruth’s eyes. He could see how scared she was as they sky raged up above them.

“It’s too late,” he almost muttered.

“No it’s not. Give it up, Tim. Please,” Ruth replied, her grip on his shoulders tightening slightly.

As they both looked at each other, Ruth saw the blue in Tim’s eyes beginning to gain their colour once more. Whatever the Star had done to his mind, Tim was trying to fight against it.

“I don’t want this,” he admitted, tears developing in the corners of his eyes. “My mind is trying to fight against the Star, but I don’t think I can push any further.”

“You are stronger than the Star, Tim. You can fight it until the end of time,” Ruth reassured him.

But as Ruth looked at Tim, she saw the colour in his eyes vanish once more - the Star had taken control once more.

Suddenly, he pushed Ruth back, her body hitting the side of her garden wall.

“I cannot be stopped,” Tim announced, before turning to the well. “I wish for Ruth Horton to be wiped from existence.”

“NO!” Ruth cried out. “Tim, stop!”

Tim waited for Ruth to vanish, but nothing happened.

Even Ruth was confused by this. Both Emelie and the Doctor had begun to vanish within seconds, but she felt no changes whatsoever. Why?

The Star inside Tim began to become enraged.

“But how?! How is this possible? HOW?!” he shouted.

As Ruth stood up once more, the colour in Tim’s eyes began to return. It was clear that, because the Star was getting more and more angry, it’s control over Tim’s mind was weakening.

“Tim, now’s your chance! Take control!” Ruth begged him.

Tim heard her plea and pressed his hands to his head, his eyes squeezed shut.

Ruth knew exactly what to do. With Tim fighting against the Star’s control, Ruth ran over to the well to wish for one last thing.

“I wish for all of today’s wishes to be wiped from existence!”

The bottom of the well glowed with the brightest light yet, almost blinding Ruth had she not covered her eyes with her hands.

Behind her, Tim began to scream in excruciating pain, his hands squeezing the sides of his head in an attempt to contain the pain.

In the corner of her eye, Ruth spotted the dust pile that was once the Doctor beginning to grow and change shape. Within a few moments, the pile was no more, and in its place? The Doctor.

Sitting bolt upright, the Doctor looked up to the sky to see the devastation unfolding. He looked closer at the shapes in the clouds and his eyes widened in fear - almost like he recognised the shapes.

“No…” he muttered.

He got up just as the clouds began to lighten once more, and a sense of normality fell across the Earth.

Ruth was kneeling by the side of the well as the Doctor came up to her. Young Tim lay on the grass, unmoving. The Doctor placed his hand on Tim’s neck, searching for a pulse. Luckily, he did find a pulse, allowing him to have a sigh of relief.

Ruth stared forward, barely acknowledging the Doctor as he came to kneel beside her.

“Thank you, Ruth,” he said.

Ruth silently nodded her head instead of verbally replying to him.

“How’s Tim?”

“He’ll be alright. I’m hoping he won’t remember most of this.”

As the two talked, they spotted a shadow coming up through the alley. Based on the size of the shadow and the faint details of clothing he could see, the Doctor knew exactly who it was.

Emelie came round the corner to see the Doctor running towards her. Before he could run her down, she extended her arms out and the two friends embraced each other in a tight hug.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMING UP: A reunion and a revelation...


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone continues to watch as the situation is resolved...

* * *

The Doctor held onto the rope tightly as he raised it from the bottom of the well. At the end of the rope, the Star that had been the culprit for all the good and bad luck for the town over 300 years was finally being raised from its home at the bottom of the well.

As the Star came into the light for the first time in centuries, the Doctor took a good, long look at the object. He pulled the rock from the end of the rope and held it in his hand, studying the lines and the ominous glow through the cracks.

“The Monkey’s Star,” he said suddenly, confusing both Emelie and Ruth who stood watching him.

“The What-Now?” Emelie asked him.

“That’s what I’m calling this little chaos-inducing rock thingy,” he replied.

“What’s it got to do with a monkey though?” Ruth questioned.

The Doctor looked at them with a somewhat annoyed expression.

“Really?”

Emelie and Ruth both nodded.

“Urgh,” the Doctor sighed. “In 1902, W. W. Jacobs wrote a short story called “The Monkey’s Paw”. And in the story, there was a mummified monkey’s paw that was able to grant wishes. But there would be deadly consequences for those that requested wishes,” he explained.

“Like if you wished for a load of money, you might find yourself in the possession of stolen money, even though you didn’t steal anything. Or maybe you wished to beat the bullies and you become some kind of God. Or perhaps you wish someone out of existence and--”

“And the sky goes dark and thunderstorms suddenly appear,” Ruth said, finishing the Doctor’s sentence.

“Yeah that sounded weird. Why would that happen? Didn’t happen when I vanished so why you?” Emelie asked him.

The Doctor hesitated before giving an answer.

“Could be anything, really. Maybe so many wishes at once started to make things go a bit crazy,” he suggested.

Emelie looked at him, not fully believing everything he was saying. Despite these doubts, she put those behind her for the time being.

“Tim tried to wish me out of existence, but it didn’t work. Even he didn’t really understand why,” Ruth said.

“You said your ancestor was the first to wish from the well. Maybe the Star latched onto her DNA and protected it. Even 300 years later it still sees you as needing protection.”

“That sounds just a tad far-fetched Doctor,” Ruth replied.

“Hey, I never said I was an expert on these things, just one possible theory I’ve got right now,” he said, getting up to face them. “Right now, this needs to be destroyed so it doesn’t cause any more chaos.”

* * *

The trio left the alleyway to see Tim being consoled by his Mother in the park. While she bore witness to the devastation that ensued, he couldn’t recall any of it. His Mother chose to not dwell on it too much, instead focusing on getting Tim home.

As the two left the park, Tim glanced towards the alley, where the Doctor, Emelie and Ruth were standing. They looked on as he couldn’t quite place where he’d seen those strange people before.

“Will he ever remember what happened?” Ruth asked.

The Doctor shook his head. “Not likely. Maybe in his dreams now and again.”

Emelie and him gave Ruth a hug, a symbol of goodbyes.

“Thanks for your help, Ruth. You just might have saved the world today,” Emelie said.

Ruth nodded in approval. “Yeah, I did pretty good didn’t I?”

The Doctor laughed at her. “You did amazing. Just try and stay out of trouble, yeah?” he asked her.

“Oh I’ll certainly endeavour to,” Ruth remarked, before waving them off as she walked back to her home.

Emelie turned to the Doctor, giving him another hug. “Don’t go vanishing from existence, you hear me?”

The Doctor smiled as his face nestled into her shoulder, his eyes closed.

As they both parted hugs, the Doctor raised his hand and saluted her in response. “Yes, boss.”

She smiled as they both headed for the nearest bus stop, hoping to catch the next bus back home.

“Oh, and we seriously need to fix the teleporter,” Emelie blurted out, “cos this is getting a bit ridiculous.”

* * *

Ruth watched from the sitting room window as the Doctor and Emelie clambered onto the bus and slowly disappeared from view.

Breathing out slowly, Ruth started to pick up various dinner plates and cups and headed for the kitchen.

As she reached the entrance to the kitchen, she gasped suddenly and dropped her dinnerware.

Stood in the kitchen was a mysterious woman, clad in a very formal-looking suit and sunglasses over her eyes. Behind her were two soldiers, their appearance closely resembling SWAT officers.

The woman turned to see Ruth standing in the doorway, unable to find the response she needed.

“Hello, Miss Horton,” she said.

The woman walked over to Ruth and proceeded to pick up the plates that she had dropped upon seeing her.

Ruth looked over the woman’s shoulder to see the soldiers, staring at her.

“I was hoping for a more dignified response, but there we are,” the woman admitted as she put the plates on the bench by the sink.

“Well that happens when you find your house being broken into,” challenged Ruth, which caused the woman to smile at her.

“True.”

Walking towards her, Ruth tried to stand her ground, although she did step back a few paces.

“We need to talk.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NEXT TIME:  
> "A Child In Time"  
> Investigating another space/time rupture sends Emelie careening back through time to 1963. As the dead rise from the grave and the Doctor nowhere to be found, Emelie must uncover what is going on and find a way to stop it - alone...


End file.
